Hey guys, I'm going to go look at a 1989 W250 diesel, 5-speed, tomorrow that has 162,000 miles on it. The guy said that it was in decent shape with some rust here and there but a straight body...he also said that he put a new master cylinder and brake lines on it...he said the passenger power window didnt work and that it had been re painted by individual and had some small runs in the black paint. He said that it had a small lift and something about axles being flipped??? I'm guessing that the leaf springs have been switched from being under the axle to on top of it with some small blocks.. I dont even know if the leafs come under the axle from the factory... He says other than that its stock and hes asking $3500 for it...

Sound like a good deal to you guys if the body and interior are in decent shape?
What else do I need to pay attention to and look at to see if its in good shape? I plan on just checking 4x4 system, steering system and suspension and obvious things like that but didnt know if there was anything special i need to pay attention to..

Any help is thankfully accepted and I have learned tons from reading on this site.

12Vmudder

 

Test drive=drive it hard and long, offer to pay for a little fuel so you can drive it 30 miles at least. Myself I would spend some time off road really checking out the 4x4 parts. There is a 90 and a 89 I have been looking at these things seem to either run good or not run at all.

 

12V,

Just like Alborado said, drive it, and drive it HARD! Like stolen hard. The W's are known for "Death Wobble" You'd be best to start with a truck that don't have it.

Here's what I learned after I bought mine.

1. I did NOT drive it enough, nor hard enough before buying.

2. I'd reccomend checking the front end thoroughly. Meaning, get a floor jack/stands under it, and yank on the tires side to side like you were trying to pull em off with the lug nuts still on to make sure the king pins/knuckles don't have excessive wear in them.

3. Make sure the lockout hubs work smoothly. They won't neccesarily be EASY to turn, but they should turn without any major sticking or grabbing.

4. Steering issues. A 'good' truck won't have more than maybe 1/8th of a turn of slop in the steering. Mine had well more than a quarter turn of the steering wheel before the wheels would even remotely move.

Those are the big things I can think of for now. But from what you described it sounds like you may be looking at a decent truck. Keep in mind, average price for the 12 v motor alone is worth $1500, so I guess the question is, after you check it over is the 'rest of the truck' worth $2000?

Good luck man!

P.S. Scrap metal is going for about 3 cents a pound!

 

When under it checking the front suspension, also check the area around the front cab mounts for rust, and the rocker in the same area.. (slightly behind the bellhousing area inside and outside the frame rail) Looked at a nice 89 4x4. In that spot on the driver's side , the rocker was held together by pretty paint, the cab mount almost gone and due to the rocker no good place to fabricate another mount.

 

Like everybody else has been saying... Make sure you check the front end really well, there isn't many things up there that are cheap to replace so it adds up quickly. Also pay good attention to the frame in the steering box area as they have a tendency to crak there. I bought mine and it had been patched, and lucky I haven't had any problems out of it, but I hear that it's not easy to find someone to work on frames these days.

 

The axles were under the springs from the factory. This ain't a Chevy.

On the rust - if it has any above the windshield, run away! They rust from the inside up there so it is much worse than it looks.

 

beat me too it

 

I am looking at a 1992 350 auto , cummins , with around 153000 on it and I have never had a diesel so i have a few questions which may seem pretty dumb , but please bear with me. What should I look for as trouble signs? How good are these 12v engines , I have been reading a bunch of posts and it seems that they are very highly regarded. Why? Also what is a KDP that everybody likes to kill? What is that all about? Also, can anyone give me a rough idea of what kind of mileage I could expect from this truck? What I need is a reliable truck that can pull a 20' gooseneck trailer , total of about 12,000 lbs, ten or twelve times a year. The asking price on this truck is 5500 by the way is that way out of line. Thanks for any advice.

 

Check the oil, it will most likely be black. That's OK. It shouldn't look milky or smell like diesel fuel. Look in the radiator for oil - could be from a blown engine or trans oil cooler, or a blown head gasket. It should start instantly when you hit the key, there will be a little puff of black smoke out the tailpipe when it does. Some white smoke on a cold engine is acceptable, but you don't want to see blue smoke. If you're in doubt about the color, walk into the cloud and inhale. If it makes your eyes water and you start to choke, that's white smoke. It may vibrate a lot at idle, but as long as it smooths out when you raise the RPM a little that's OK - the idle's just set a little low. Take it for a ride, when you floor it you may see some black to gray smoke but that should clear up once the turbo gets wound up. Again you don't want to see blue smoke at all, or white smoke once the engine is warm. When you drive it, it will probably seem very sluggish to you. That's OK, we can help you with that. They run forever, give very little trouble, and are easy to work on when there is a problem. They are also flat out awesome when you turn them up a bit. Take a look in the sticky thread for info on the KDP. Depending on the rearend gear and whether or not it's a 4x4 and/or a dually, you will get anywhere from 18 to 21 mpg empty on the highway. Loaded expect that to drop to around 14. If your area isn't too hilly you will do fine, a manual is better for heavy hauling like that. Assuming the truck is in good condition: If it's a 2wd std cab that's a little high, but for a 4x4 club cab it's a good deal.